Greenland Vances Set for Frosty Reception After Diplomatic Row Over Trip

The US vice-president and his wife are due to touch down in Greenland today in a drastically scaled down trip to the Arctic island after the original plans for the unsolicited visit sparked an international diplomatic row.

- Miranda Bryant

JD and Usha Vance's visit to Pituffik, a remote ice-locked US military base in northwestern Greenland, will be closely watched by leaders in Nuuk and Copenhagen, both of whom have aired their opposition to the trip amid ongoing threats by Donald Trump to acquire Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark.

"It's safe to say we would rather not have [Vance] in Greenland," a government source in Copenhagen told the Guardian.

Ahead of the Vances' arrival, Trump said the US will "go as far as we have to go" to gain control of the island, which he claims the US "needs" for national and international security.

The mood in Copenhagen was understood to be apprehensive. The Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, yesterday responded to Trump's comments, saying: "Greenland is part of the Danish kingdom. That is not going to change."